First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) shares are trading lower Thursday, falling below the stock’s prior 52-week low despite the company posting strong earnings beat back in late July.
- First Solar shares are approaching critical lows. What’s behind FSLR weakness?
First Solar Falls Below its 52-Week Low
Shares touched $175.59 intraday Thursday, dropping beneath the stock’s prior 52-week low of $182.99 and trading in a range up to $190 on the day.
The decline comes despite a strong second-quarter report posted July 30, when First Solar beat earnings estimates by a wide margin, posting $3.92 per share against a $2.86 consensus, though revenue of roughly $1.056 billion came in slightly below the $1.062 billion analysts expected and down from $1.1 billion a year earlier.
CEO Mark Widmar pointed to the strongest quarterly and first-half shipment totals in company history, along with a healthier bottom line than a year ago, as signs of momentum heading into the back half of the year.
First Solar Is Sharply Underperforming its Own Sector
That weakness stands in sharp contrast to how the rest of the sector is performing today. First Solar’s sector ranks sixth out of 11 S&P sectors today, down a modest 0.19%. The stock is badly lagging that group, though, underperforming it by 7.82 percentage points today, even as the sector has climbed 7.28% over the past month and 7.65% over the past 90 days.
Communication Services, Energy and Healthcare are pacing the market today, while Materials, Industrials and Consumer Staples fall toward the bottom, a lineup that suggests traders are leaning into riskier, cyclical corners of the market while pulling back from steadier, defensive names, a shift that hasn’t done anything for First Solar’s stock today.
FSLR Shares Are Tumbling
FSLR Price Action: First Solar shares were down 7.73% at $177.14 at the time of publication on Thursday. The stock is near its 52-week low of $182.99, according to Benzinga Pro.
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